The federal judge Analisa Torres, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2013 and affiliated with the Southern District of New York Federal Court, took over the criminal case for narcoterrorism against Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Wednesday, following the passing of Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein at the age of 92 on the same day.
The case file was reassigned through the court's standard procedure for cases involving deceased judges, which randomly distributes cases among other federal magistrates. Judicial spokesperson Edward Friedland confirmed that Hellerstein's cases "will be randomly assigned to another federal judge."
Torres receives the process at the full pre-trial stage, with a key hearing scheduled for November 17 and another for December 17, while the trial itself is set for June 14, 2027.
The first urgent task of the new judge will be to resolve the motion for sovereign immunity presented by the defense on September 2, 2026, through attorney Barry Pollack, who requested the dismissal of all charges arguing that Maduro acted as a foreign head of state. The prosecution opposes this, pointing out that Washington recognizes Delcy Rodríguez —not Maduro— as the legitimate authority of Venezuela.
Torres takes on the entire case file without needing to restart the process, although he retains the authority to modify the schedule of hearings.
Born in New York in 1959 and of Puerto Rican descent, Torres comes from a family with deep roots in the judiciary: her father, Frank Torres, was a judge on the State Supreme Court in the Bronx, and her grandfather also served in the federal judiciary. She graduated with honors from Harvard and earned her doctorate in Law from Columbia University. Before joining the federal bench, she accumulated over a decade of experience as a judge in civil and criminal courts, as well as the State Supreme Court of New York.
Among its most notable cases is the ruling in July 2023 in the litigation between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple Labs, in which it was determined that sales of the XRP token in public markets did not constitute securities transactions under federal law, setting a key precedent in cryptocurrency regulation.
The case against Maduro originated in March 2020, when the Prosecutor's Office presented the original charges of narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and possession of destructive weapons. On October 8, 2026, a supplementary accusation expanded the charges to include conspiracy to commit torture—detailing alleged abuses against Venezuelan and American political prisoners—and formally added Flores to the charge of narcoterrorism.
After that substitute accusation, Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty for the second time before Judge Hellerstein on October 15, 2026.
Hellerstein, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 92, had presided over the case since its inception in 2020 and also conducted the first appearances of Maduro and Flores following their transfer to the United States in January 2026. He was known for overseeing the mass litigations resulting from September 11, 2001.
If Maduro and Flores were convicted on all charges, they would face mandatory minimum sentences of approximately 50 years in prison, with some individual charges allowing for a life sentence.
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